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Abu Omar al-Baghdadi
Hamid Dawud Mohamed Khalil al Zawi, most commonly known as Abu Abdullah al-Rashid al-Baghdadi (ابو عبدالله الراشد البغدادي), and also known as Abu Hamza al-Baghdadi and ( Abu Omar al-Qurashi al-Baghdadi,Insurgent leader arrested in Iraq, Wimmera News. March 10, 2007.Al-Qaeda names mystery man to succeed Zarqawi. Agence France Presse. 13 June 2006. (died 18 April 2010) was presented as the leader of the Mujahideen Shura Council (also translated as "Council of Freedom Fighters", "Consultative Council of Mujahedeen", and "Council of Holy Warriors" ), an umbrella organization composed of eight groups that oppose the United States' military presence in Iraq, and its successor organisation, the Islamic State of Iraq. Biography Very little is known about al-Baghdadi. It is stated that he may have served with the former Iraqi army as an officer during the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein. Identification and false report of capture The Interior Ministry of Iraq claimed that al-Baghdadi was captured in Baghdad on 9 March 2007,Iraqi ministry: Militant leader arrested in Baghdad, CNN. 9 March 2007. but it was later said that the person in question was not al-Baghdadi."Captured Iraqi not al-Baghdadi", Al Jazeera, March 10, 2007. On 3 May 2007, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said that al-Baghdadi was killed by American and Iraqi forces north of Baghdad. However, in July 2007, the U.S. military reported that al-Baghdadi never actually existed.http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/world/africa/18iht-iraq.4.6718200.html?_r=0 The detainee identified as Khaled al-Mashhadani, a self-proclaimed intermediary to Osama bin Laden, claimed that al-Baghdadi was a fictional character created to give an Iraqi face to a foreign-run terror group, and that statements attributed to al-Baghdadi were actually read by an Iraqi actor.http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4980195.html In March 2008, the spokesman for an insurgent organization that is hostile to the Coalition, Hamas-Iraq, claimed that al-Baghdadi was a fabrication made by Al Qaeda to put a false Iraqi face to their organization.MEMRI: Latest News However, US military officials later reported that Al Qaeda replaced Baghdadi with an actual Al Qaeda leader. On 7 May 2008, the Arabic-language satellite channel Al-Arabiya, citing information obtained from an Iraqi police official, identified al-Baghdadi as Hamid Dawoud al-Zawi.Report: Al-Qaida in Iraq leader identified with photograph - International Herald Tribune On 23 April 2009, AFP reported that he was arrested by the Iraqi military,Head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq arrested in Baghdad: army, Agence France-Presse, 23 April 2009. and on 28 April the Iraqi government produced photos to prove it to skeptics. The claim was denied by the Islamic State in IraqQaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq denies head captured, Reuters, 12 May 2009 which according to SITE Institute released a genuine recording of al-Baghdadi denying the government's recent claims. However, the Iraqi government refuted this claim and insisted that the man captured was indeed Baghdadi. Tapes and messages from Baghdadi were released throughout 2009 and 2010.Al-Qaida leader in Iraq calls for continued jihad Associated Press Maamoun Youssef – 23 March 2010.WorldAnalysis.net archive of text and translations of tapes listed as by al-Baghdadi Death On 18 April 2010, al-Baghdadi was reported killed over the weekend when a joint operation of American and Iraqi forces rocketed a home where he was hiding near Tikrit, Iraq. Abu Ayyub al-Masri was also reported as killed in the attack. His son was also killed in the attack and 16 others were arrested. He was killed in a safe house six miles (10 kilometers) southwest of Tikrit and was found dead in a hole in the ground inside a house. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced the killings of al-Baghdadi and Ayyub al-Masri at a news conference in Baghdad and showed reporters photographs of their bloody corpses. "The attack was carried out by ground forces which surrounded the house, and also through the use of missiles", al-Maliki said. "During the operation computers were seized with e-mails and messages to the two biggest terrorists, Osama bin Laden and deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri", al-Maliki added. U.S. forces commander Gen. Raymond Odierno praised the operation. "The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al-Qaida in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency", he said. "There is still work to do but this is a significant step forward in ridding Iraq of terrorists". Joe Biden said that the killings of the top two al-Qaida figures in Iraq are "potentially devastating" blows to the terror network there and proof that Iraqi security forces are gaining ground.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100419/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_biden_iraq_3 On 25 April 2010, a four-page statement by the Islamic State of Iraq was posted on a militant website early Sunday confirmed the death of al-Masri and Al-Baghdadi saying "After a long journey filled with sacrifices and fighting falsehood and its representatives, two knights have dismounted to join the group of martyrs," the statement said. "We announce that the Muslim nation has lost two of the leaders of jihad, and two of its men, who are only known as heroes on the path of jihad." The ISI shariah minister, Abu al-Walid Abd al-Wahhab al-Mashadani, also said the two leaders were attending a meeting when enemy forces engaged them in battle and launched an airstrike on their location. Another thing he said was that the "Crusaders" and Shi'ites will exploit the incident to improve the image of Iraqi security services and give the enemy alliance an illusory victory after the mass-casualty incidents carried out by the ISI in Baghdad, the statement added, in an apparent reference to Friday's bomb attacks.http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100425/wl_nm/us_iraq_violence_qaeda_1 http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100425/wl_afp/iraqunrestqaeda_20100425092100 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100425/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_47 See also * 23 April 2009 Iraqi suicide attacks References External links * Insurgent Leader Nabbed in Iraq Raid * Profile at globalsecurity.org * Leader of Al Qaeda group in Iraq was fictional, U.S. military says Category:Year of birth missing Category:2010 deaths Category:Iraqi Sunni Muslims Category:Iraqi al-Qaeda members Category:Iraqi Islamists